Piles are common in marine environments (hereafter “piles” or “marine piles”) and perform a variety of useful functions such as providing a fixed location for mooring a vessel, presenting location information, as well as supporting marine structures. Marine Piles may be constructed of various materials including steel and wood. Since marine piles are typically driven into the ground and come in direct contact with air, dirt, and water, there are several different “deterioration zones” including the: (1) atmospheric zone; (2) splash zone; (3) intertidal zone; (4) continuous immersion zone; and (5) underground zone. Each zone has its own deterioration factors that need to be considered when considering how to extend the useful life of a marine pile.
The problem of marine growth on marine pilings has been in existence since mankind has built structures in water. Marine growth such as barnacles, oysters, algae, and several for other organisms and fungi, latch onto marine pilings and pose several problems including promoting rot thereby shortening their useful life. Indeed, for marine piles, marine growth has a considerable influence on the protective measures needed to prevent premature structural failure.
For metal marine pilings, studies have shown that there is almost no Marine growth in the atmospheric and splash zones, but in the intertidal and continuously emerged zones heavy growth of barnacles and weeds can develop. Notably, for metal piles, the splash zone and the intertidal zone experience the most severe corrosion. Similarly, for wood piles, marine growth on the intertidal zone is of great concern.
For wood marine pilings, the industry has tried to alleviate this problem using several prior art methods including piling wraps and treated paints. Piling wraps designs include vinyl sheets that are wrapped around a marine piling to keep marine growth from forming. Such wraps are relatively expensive and look unsightly when the marine piling is not nearly perfectly straight. Additionally, if such piling wrap becomes cut anywhere, the Marine growth can and does find its way to the piling and attaches itself.
Treated paints have also been tried for preventing marine growth in the intertidal zones of wood marine piles and the underside of water vessels. For such method various chemical additives are put into paints for application onto a marine object (such as pilings and boats). Unfortunately, such paints can leech dangerous chemicals into the water, do not last long, and are very expensive.
Charles Hubbard disclosed a device or protecting the pile in U.S. Pat. No. 934,176 (incorporated by this reference for all that it discloses). Such device was configured for automatically applying a preservative along the length of a pile by the aid of the rise and fall of water. The device consisted of a floating casting associated with a pile configured to freely move up and down the pile with the level of the water where the upper portion of the casting was liquid tight for containing a preservative solution. The casting provided an inner space between the casting and the pile. Such inner space is filled with a preservative solution, such as crude oil, that is applied to the pile as the casting moves up and down. Such a device requires the refilling of a preservative solution and provides minimal rubbing the fact between the casting and the pile.
Sluys teaches a floating mooring device in U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,891 (incorporated by this reference for all that it discloses) that is fastened to a cylindrical collar that loosely surrounds a pile so that it may moves upwardly or downwardly along the pile in response to tidal action. Such device works well for providing a mooring function for round piles.
Isella et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,781; incorporated by this reference for all that it discloses) teach a floating piling attachment device with shock absorbing capability which also allows a watercraft moored to such device to rise and drop vertically with water level variations. As taught by Sluys, Isella et al. teach a device that loosely fits over and around the mooring point. The Isella et al. device is configured to a mooring device that minimizes damage to a watercraft moored to such device caused by impact and scraping against a pier or piling while also floating thereby maintaining the same relative distance between the watercraft and the mooring point.
Lemonides teaches a mooring pole line attachment device in U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,579 (incorporated by this reference for all that it discloses) comprising a tubular section associated with buoyant base. Such device provides a point of mooring for a boat that moves up and down with changes in water level while providing protection for both boat and mooring pole. Similar to the Sluys device and the Isella et al. device, the Lemonides devices provides a floating mooring function for round piles.
What is needed is a cost effective floating device that prevents the substantial growth of marine life on a pile that may be used with a plurality of pile shapes while also providing additional useful features and functions such as mooring functions and electronic monitoring and communications functions.